Education – Page 10 – Slugger O'Toole

Some Royal Society Stamps

Pete Baker on February 26, 2010, 7:52 pm

| Readers 3

The BBC hosts a neat, but unembeddable, audio slideshow on a new series of commemorative Royal Mail stamps marking The Royal Society’s 350th anniversary year. Ten eminent scientists are featured starting with the Honourable Robert Boyle – who was born at Lismore Castle, Co. Waterford, on 25 January 1627. Missing from the list is the Ingenious Mr Robert Hooke. Possibly because his only known portrait, held by the Royal Society, was allegedly, destroyed by his long-term rival Sir Isaac Newton …

“There has to be a consensus found on education”

Pete Baker on February 12, 2010, 3:59 am

| Readers 4

The BBC reports UUP leader Reg Empey’s comments this evening – “If we can deal with parades, why can’t we deal with education? And we are looking at this as a litmus test of whether the Executive is going to be capable of taking on any more powers”. Video courtesy of UTV From the BBC report On Thursday, Sir Reg said: “The Ulster Unionist Party has long stated its concerns at the dysfunctional nature of the Executive, and we are …

“typical of the slithery sleeveenism that still infects Irish politics.”

Pete Baker on December 8, 2009, 6:32 pm

| Readers 55

The report of Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin’s meeting with the Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, ends on this note Responding to Mr Martin’s expression of “deep disappointment” at the lack of a response by the pope to the Dublin diocesan report, Holy See sources said until the Holy See received a formal complaint from the Government via its diplomatic mission in Rome, a Vatican response would be “inappropriate”. Meanwhile, in the Irish Times, Fintan O’Toole …

McCann: Sinn Fein never had a plan to make educational reform work…

Mick Fealty on December 3, 2009, 7:16 pm

| Readers 4

Interesting admission from Jennifer McCann of Sinn Fein at a public meeting at St Dominics on the Falls last night: “I would concede that when you take something away you should have something in its place. I concede that.” Even more interesting that she fingers Martin McGuinness as the villain of the piece for announcing his intention to abolish the 11+ before having something in its place. It’s a fair criticism of course, but it sidesteps poor Caitriona, whose party …

“these arrangements are all designed to reduce uncertainty”

Pete Baker on December 1, 2009, 7:44 pm

| Readers 5

As I said, the education system is clearly in the very safest of hands… Someone briefed the media in advance of the Northern Ireland Education Minister’s statement [new link] in the Assembly today on her proposed interim measures following the minister’s withdrawal of the Education Bill which was to properly establish the Education and Skills Authority on 1 January 2010. From the ministerial statement [pdf file] I plan to reduce membership of the [Education and Library] Boards by over half, …

Mistaken and misguided committents to failed policies…

Mick Fealty on November 27, 2009, 2:55 pm

| Readers 8

A large dollop of reality from Tom Kelly who notes a vain of political timidity running through the two main political parties at Stormont… And now they are lumbered with a number of populist policies to sweeten the pill of indolent devolution, but seem unable to deal with anything beyond those policy devices they have inherited from direct rule: The executive never seemed comfortable with tough decisions. From the start it ducked anything that had to do with the implementing …

“but with no political agreement..”

Pete Baker on November 21, 2009, 10:42 pm

| Readers 2

Last weekend more than 7000 primary school pupils sat one version of the new privatised post-primary transfer test, this weekend, as the BBC reports, “about 6,700 took a different test aimed mainly at those seeking places in Catholic grammars.” And with the Education Bill suspended by the Minister and area-based planning awol, the education system is clearly in the very safest of hands… [Time for another campaign? – Ed] Pete Baker

“I regret that the political process has not yet delivered what the Executive promised”

Pete Baker on November 20, 2009, 7:51 pm

| Readers 4

As noted on the delay in progressing the Education Bill, yesterday the ESA Chief Executive Designate, Gavin Boyd said “However the Minister has made it very clear that she remains focussed on the agreed implementation date of 1 January. She plans that the Education Bill will move to Consideration Stage as soon as possible, so that it completes its Assembly passage early next month and becomes law before Christmas.” Today, as the BBC reports, the Northern Ireland Education Minister, Sinn …

SF will/will not take part in education initiatives sponsored by newspapers – delete as appropriate?

Oul Micky Hoot on November 20, 2009, 1:34 am

| Readers 5

I’m sure by now John O’Dowd is used to digging the Education Minister out of a hole, but I wonder if he would’ve expected her to land him in one? On Monday’s Nolan show (circa 30mins in) he was very clear that SF doesn’t like, support or take part in campaigns sponsored by newspapers. He dismissed the talks emerging out of the Belfast Telegraph’s ‘Sit Down – Sort it Out’ campaign on the grounds that they are ‘driven by a …

“At time of recording this broadcast the Bill has still not been scheduled.”

Pete Baker on November 19, 2009, 10:31 pm

| Readers 7

The decision by the Northern Ireland Education Minister, Sinn Féin’s Caitríona Ruane, not to move the Consideration Stage of the Education Bill in the Assembly in October risks another vacuum developing in the education system. There’s also been a subsequent DUP amendment tabled which would appear to seek to restrict the Department’s ability to bring into operation some of the provisions of the Bill – by requiring a vote in the Assembly for each of the provisions not immediately enacted. …

‘Together Towards Entitlement’.. and Beyond!

Pete Baker on November 18, 2009, 2:04 am

| Readers 10

An area-based planning strategy for the Northern Ireland post-primary schools’ estate was a key recommendation of George Bain’s 2006 report and the, now capitalised, “Area Based Planning” featured in the NI Education Minister, Sinn Féin’s Caitríona Ruane’s “visionary” proposals to reform the education system – as announced in December 2007. In February 2008 the minister responded to criticism of delays in producing that strategy “I believe in the benefits of designing local solutions to address local circumstances and that is …

And how was your weekend?

Pete Baker on November 17, 2009, 5:52 pm

| Readers 1

Did anything happen at the weekend’s “nice diversion” for the First and deputy First Ministers, et al, of the 13th British-Irish Council summit in Jersey? Apparently Peter Hain vetoed Edinburgh as a proposed site for the permanent secretariat, but on the theme of the summit – indigenous, minority and lesser-used languages? Here’s Northern Ireland Minister Paul Goggins’ statement The Minister also welcomed recent comments by the Northern Ireland Culture Minister Nelson McCausland. “The St Andrews Agreement acknowledged the importance of …

“but, with no political agreement on a replacement..”

Pete Baker on November 15, 2009, 2:42 am

| Readers 3

Worth noting that today saw more than 7000 children take the first of the new privatised post-primary transfer tests. As the BBC report notes Next Saturday, 6,700 pupils will take a different test aimed mainly at those seeking places in Catholic grammars. Pete Baker

“Who’s afraid of a big black hole?”

Pete Baker on November 4, 2009, 4:49 am

| Readers 6

A wondrous Horizon broadcast tonight, a real return to form – “Who’s afraid of a big black hole?” Astro-physicists apparently. Well, not really. But not a mention of the string hypothesis. Nor of the Large Hadron Collider. And that’s a good thing! You can catch the program again via the iPlayer – since the BBC don’t like me editing won’t let me edit clips. A taster, not the one I would have chosen and not embeddable, here. Alternative, not my …

Comhairle na Gaelscolaìochta launch video campaign

Ciarán Dunbar on October 30, 2009, 3:02 pm

| Readers 7

Comhairle na Gaelscolaìochta, the Council for Irish medium education in the North have launched a series a videos on their website to give information on IME. (Apologies for fadas pointing left, I can do nothing about it!)The five videos are entitled … 1.What is Irish/Gaelic-medium Education? 2.What are the advantages of Irish/Gaelic-medium Education? 3.Irish/Gaelic-medium Education; Parent and pupil experiences 4.Irish/Gaelic-medium Education; Frequently asked questions 5.Irish-medium Post-primary Education They should provide a good introduction to those unfamiliar with bilingual education and …

Blogtalk NI: Councils; Education; and the democratising effects of the Internet…

Mick Fealty on October 30, 2009, 1:21 pm

| Readers 1

Great conversation between SDLP councillor blogger Matt McDermott, Geoff (aka Bobballs!) and Alan (from whom I picked the story up)… Really good conversation on Councils and councillors, their attitude to public information and the way they deal with citizens inquiry… Geoff plugs some of the free data stuff from Government2010 conference in London last week… My top tip there is Tom Steinberg’s excellent keynote on the freeing of data on government… And in particular, there is the www.whatdotheyknow.com/ (which publiclyaggregating …

Ulster Museum re-opens

Pete Baker on October 22, 2009, 5:24 pm

| Readers 4

As mentioned back in August, the Ulster Museum re-opens today after its extended and expensive (£17million), and controversial, renovation – 80 years on from the original building’s official opening in 1929. The BBC reports here and, from their slideshow, it’s claimed that “Even though the exterior may look the same..” Does that mean the battle over “one of the glories of Modernism” was won? And have all those borrowed items been returned?Here’s a video of the work in progress in …

Government coalition negotiations (continuning updates)…

Mick Fealty on October 9, 2009, 7:18 pm

| Readers 3

Again, apologies for the outage, we ARE working on it… In the meantime, we’re keeping an ear to ground for whether the Greens have been able to agree a new Programme for Government ahead of a scheduled meeting of the party’s convention tomorrow where they have to get 75% 2/3 approval to get it past… Late last night, Ciaran Cuffe blogged that failure to agree would have seen himself and his colleagues head into a General Election that would almost …

Reg Empey: Brown’s legacy was in Health and Education, not at the Treasury

Mick Fealty on October 1, 2009, 7:30 pm

| Readers 6

One renegade snippet from Stormont live in which Sir Reg suggests that Brown’s contribution to the economy was less ‘robust’ than his work in the Health Service and the capital investment in the rebuilding of schools… Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty

“This Report is a major contribution to the debate..”

Pete Baker on September 29, 2009, 3:53 pm

| Readers 24

RTÉ reports some of the recommendations, and some of the criticisms of Invest NI, in the Independent Review of Economic Policy (IREP), chaired by the University of Ulster Vice-Chancellor, Professor Richard Barnett – full report here [pdf file]. In yesterday’s Belfast Telegraph David Gordon asked the question for the report to answer, “Are Invest NI really up to the job?” The Northern Ireland DETI Minister, the DUP’s Arlene Foster has welcomed the publication and “[intends] to carry out a short …